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Show WASATCH COUNTY COURIER FIRE BOND continued from page 1 no incentive to minimize the costs of the ; ; EME T CU A UL . , A ve LLL ‘The members of the Wasatch County Fire ‘Protection District board did not learn about the contract that was signed without their knowledge until just a few months ago. The original contract was signed on April 6th, 1998. The County Controversial History Commissioners dissolved the Fire Board This fire station has been controversial before construction began on the ‘Proj ect for many reasons. One over $480,000 of the fund has been used to struction of the project several of them is that county's general finance the coneven though the county commission said before construc- tion began that the entire cost would be borne by developers. In fact, according to the minutes of the Wasatch County Commission meeting on July 13, 1998, former County Attorney Dan Matthews said the bond for the fire: station would be paid through impact and assumed its responsibilities shortly months ago. s Since ether fire stations may be built in the Jordanelle Basin, residents in Jordanelle may also see additional bonds on their tax assessment notices. They may also see significantly higher fire protection costs than residents in the rest of the county. RCE ~- A rough estimate of the operating costs for the Jordanelle fire station based upon the station being staffed with 12 full-time fees.. He also said that property owners will be required to sign an agreement employees before they were issued a building permit. for salary expenses and $2 70,000 for other Ub UE ance costs. — when he was county attorney and they were signed by Commissioner LaRen Provost who was not a member of the Wasatch County Fire Protection District Board at the time. Only the Fire Board had. the authority to sign these documents. In this same meeting Commissioner would come out to around $1,000,000 a year. This includes $720,000 operating costs. Winterton made a motion to approve the If this amount is spread a $2.5 million bond and Commissioner Jacobson seconded the motion that the yearly operating cost per ERU would equal $450.65. This is in addition to the $177.72 that will be paid for construction passed. Whether a bond was actually issued in 1998 is unknown since Derek Pullan, the county. attorney, was not aware that any prior arrangement had been made for financing the project. Nor does it appear that he was informed of this decision by Dan Matthews. According to the county commissioners— all of the money that had been taken out of the general fund will be paid back with interest once the new bond ‘is issued by Zions Bank. In addition to the general used, this project has been constant cost overruns. The station in Park City, which fund being plagued by Keetley fire is the model for the Jordanelle fire station, cost less than a million dollars to build. The cur- rent estimated cost of the Jordanelle ae station, excluding trucks and ambulances is $2. 5 million, The county Bas sili some features to the original Keetley station. design which has contributed to the higher cost, but AAD an Matthews Ho the county. Also, developers wanted higher lever of fire protection service in their area so they could lower their insur- These contracts were negotiated by Dan to The Jordanelle fire station was originally planned to service developments in the Jordanelle Basin that would be poorly served by the existing all-volunteer fire department that operates in the rest of | mein Rito — purchasing RIOR estimate of operating costs at the recent county commission meeting. are. strictly county’s repent ENT pectin station. The county would not give any contracts 2219 ERUs, and equipment costs. For a regular single family home, the cost of fire protection in the Jordanelle Basin could amount to $628 per year. Even though the commissioners claim that all the costs will be paid for by the property owners in Jordanelle, the entire county still carries the liability for the Jordanelle bonds since they will be issued though the county-wide fire protection district. If the economy slows down and developers cannot pay their portion of | the assessments, the rest of the county will have to pick up the tab. The county could: have malate the debt burden. of- the Jordanelle fire ‘station by creating a special service district in Jordanelle, but it appears that they chose not to for political reasons. atone tion and maintenance expenses of the fire this . ees Once the bonds are paid off, residents will only have to pay for the ongoing opera- Cost-plus prohibited in policy. in NG states how many units (ERUs) the ‘developer is allowed to build. | project. If aseparate special service district was formed in Jordanelle, the commissioners could not exercise complete control over some of the overrun, may have been cre-_ who got the full-time jobs that will. be ated by the two construction manage_ created -“up there. By keeping ‘control. of ment contracts that the county signed oe those. decisions. in the county-wide fire this project. ~ district which - they, control,. they can | Both Design West and: Uh Home = take those decisions themselves. Builders have construction. management ~The contracts for this project even though — there would norma only. be. one. | sake both of these contracts are costs contracts which give the project manager- : station. ‘will: be staffed froin: existing - members of the all volunteer fire depart- ment in the county. ‘Two of those mema) sons of Commissioner Ralph Duke, ‘ were recently appointed as fire’ fighters. Z weir September 21, 1999 |